The investigators tracing the financiers of terror modules in Uttar Pradesh appear to have stumbled upon a complex jigsaw related to the funding of terror groups. They have found that apart from Hawala networks, funds were also being routed through bank accounts in the form of drafts, making it all the more difficult for IB sleuths to trace the real source of such finances. ATS sources said that one of the suspected financiers, an Azamgarh-based businessman, is learned to have provided Rs 1 lakh to the terror module busted in Delhi. These funds were used by the module to coordinate their terror plans.
"Apart from Hawala, it seems these people have used their business bank accounts to forward the cash," said a senior ATS officer. The modus-operandi could be similar to the one exposed by Central probe agencies in Kashmir with the arrest of one Shahabuddin of Rampur, UP, a few years ago.
Shahabuddin was found with 22 bank drafts valued at Rs 15.5 lakh. It was later revealed that these drafts were issued by an ISI-controlled business firm in the Middle East and were meant for some wholesalers in Delhi and Mumbai. These wholesalers used to supply goods worth the amount received through draft to retailers in the Valley. Once the goods were sold by the retailers, the sales proceeds were passed on to terror groups.
"Suppose an establishment selling Banarasi sarees in Varanasi receives a draft worth Rs 70,000 from a firm in Middle East," explained a source. "The Varanasi businessman would then hand over sarees worth the draft amount to a retailer from, say, Azamgarh. This Azamgarh retailer will sell the sarees and hand over the sales proceeds to the terror group," the officer said.